The pressures of driving...and other topics with Charleston's Pirate Princess Racing Team!

[00:00:09] Hello and welcome to another episode of Sailfaster. And today we are in the beautiful city of Charlestons of South Carolina and at the beautiful Charleston Yacht Club. I'm here to talk to a women's racing team called the Pirate Princess Racing Team,

[00:00:27] which is quite well known, it's been around for a while. I really wanted to talk to them about the history of the racing team, what it takes to manage often travelling campaigns, and then to really start talking about the opportunities and challenges

[00:00:43] when it comes to women in sailing, women in racing sailing specifically. So I'm here with Sarah Shale Coleruso, Katie Yeager Monroe and Katie Hughes Mallory. So thank you so much for taking the time, great to see you. Thank you.

[00:00:58] So why don't we start out with a little bit of a potted history of how you got into sailing. So, Sarah would you like to kick it off? Sure, yeah I'd love to. So I grew up sailing on Long Island Sound, junior sailing, didn't do high school sailing,

[00:01:13] we didn't have that, went to college, sailed at Eckerd College, Go Tritons, and came to Charleston after college because I sailed so much in Charleston and now I call Charleston home. I'm Katie Monroe and I grew up on the Gulf Coast sailing from Houston to St. Pete's.

[00:01:32] And all the junior sailing, we also didn't have a high school team, which is interesting I never knew that. You didn't either? Real disadvantage going in the college sailing with that sailing in high school.

[00:01:43] Yeah, but we were used to going every weekend and being gone during the summer and travelling to the Four Corners of America to sail and some international stuff as well. I only briefly sailed at Auburn for one semester, it was not well supported

[00:02:02] at that school, but I had a good time that semester and we did really well. And then I've always loved Charleston, I was very close to coming to college at Charleston instead of Auburn but I chose to stay in the state

[00:02:16] and as soon as I got back to Charleston after college immediately found my way into the sailing community here and have ever since been on the water. Katie? Yeah, I actually grew up sailing in Southern California, Balboa Yacht Club starting when I was seven.

[00:02:34] Did have high school sailing and that led me to come to Charleston. Came to Charleston to sail at Sea of Sea and said I was never leading. My husband who sailed with Naval Academy made me leave for a few years

[00:02:49] and I got to sail in a bunch of different places which was great. But moved back to Charleston after a few years and call it home now and have been sailing here and all across the US and down in the Caribbean and really just, it's a complete passion.

[00:03:08] Sounds amazing. So I got to know you guys very briefly for about 30 seconds because when you came to Annapolis for the women's regatta last year you used our boat London calling and so that's how I got to know this team in a few, over a few minutes.

[00:03:25] At least I was really intrigued about the history of Pirate Princess Racing because it's been around for quite a while, right? Yeah, yeah, it's surprising to look back and make us feel old about how long we've been racing together but yeah Pirate Princess Racing started here in Charleston

[00:03:45] way back in 2007. There's a legendary car and sailboat racer here, Robert Hibdon who found himself with an extra race boat as you do and a few of us were sailing on his regular race boat team and he said hey, you know what would be neat?

[00:04:08] I think this is exactly what you know it would be neat is if you put together a full women's team and you guys did the summer series by yourselves out there on Rascal and we were young, you know, we were pretty much straight out of college

[00:04:22] most of us and we had a heck of a summer just ripping around on a race boat that we probably had no business racing frankly but we did it really well and we had a lot of fun and the community really came out

[00:04:42] and supported us and that was the seed that got a lot of friendships going a lot of relationships that we maintain now, you know, almost 20 years later and... Was that a new thing to have a women, exclusively women crewed boat?

[00:05:02] Big boats I feel like, I mean in college sailing I feel like college sailing is dominated by women because you have co-ed and you have women's teams there's more women in college sailing than there is men and you graduate from college and you say what's next

[00:05:18] and you look at the big boats for the most part and there's not a lot of women on them I will say about the same time because I'm a Dutroulston in 2008 and so about the same time that y'all were doing your summer campaign here

[00:05:31] we were approached, I briefly lived in Fort Walton Beach, Florida I know, well... Yeah, so we had a J92 that we were in Amelgos 24 the 92 was far easier than the 24 was to convince people to go Wednesday night sailing on and we did a women's team that year

[00:05:51] they have three events down there that then the culmination of the summer is the race for the roses I completely forgot about all this until just now but it was super tight racing and the women were super supportive of each other

[00:06:08] and the men loved it because they got to ride around in a power boat drink a beer all day long, watching these girls sling it out, right? They loved it so they were very supportive of getting all these women out on the water

[00:06:22] and that's still an ongoing thing done in Pensacola Tell us how the program has evolved over the years Well, it started out really just as a Charleston sailing you know, this summer series that we were sailing in and it evolved into what other women's regattas are out there

[00:06:45] and so the team really started getting focused on back in the day US sailing used to have the Adams Cup the women's championships and then also they had the Rolex women's regattas so we first started with the Adams Cup and traveled to San Diego, to Oklahoma City

[00:07:06] to North Carolina to sail in those J-1, er, not J-1-5 to sail in the Adams Cup women's in a multitude of different boats some boats we like, some boats we didn't but had a great time and met a lot of other women sailors

[00:07:25] in a lot of different areas of their life and that was my favorite thing as far as getting to travel and go sailing but also to meet other women that were older than us, that were younger than us

[00:07:38] and really had figured it out in how to continue sailing so our team then was campaigning towards the Rolex women's event that, here was that, was that 2009, 10 somewhere in there and as we were campaigning for that event and really pushing kind of our branding

[00:07:58] for Pirate Princess racing and fundraising and doing all of those things the Rolex women's champ got pulled out from underneath us and there was really a downhill slide of women sailing in my opinion after Rolex got canned US sailing did away with the Adams Cup

[00:08:21] and for us, for it to be a yearly event that we really enjoyed and really learned from and look forward to it was really kind of sad that that happened Well, just to just about why it happened that sponsors pulled out so moved on to other things

[00:08:37] or were there fewer women taking part? I think from some of the conversations I'd had and I was big into J70 sailing at that point and I'd had a few conversations with certain people that were involved in US sailing and those decision makers that were male

[00:08:53] and said rightly so in some regards that women can sail against men just as easily as we could sail against women so why do we need our own women's events? Which I get, I mean I get the basis of that but the big takeaway that I always got

[00:09:13] from the Adams Cup events was you know how do you sail it's easy to sail when you're straight out of college and you're not tied down to anything and you don't really have you know you've got your work responsibilities but that's kind of it

[00:09:26] you know how do you continue sailing when you have kids? How do you manage that when your husband also sails and how do you balance that? Even questions like can you sail when you're pregnant? Yeah you probably can't hike on a belgist 24 when you're pregnant but

[00:09:45] But Katie and I both sailed until we were 36, 38 weeks pregnant Great we were seriously I wanted to sail that I can't remember what, Thimphata maybe I wanted to sail that day and they were like you're doing like two days

[00:10:04] I was like no I need this baby to come out of me Let's go sailing So it's those kind of experiences and learning from each other at that point I was sailing in the J70 class and there were 100 people in the class and maybe 15 women

[00:10:24] which they're right there is why we need women's sailing events because we don't get out as much as the guys do whether we have other responsibilities or whether we say that's fine you go sailing and so it was really sad that those events went away

[00:10:42] and it's really exciting to see that they're coming back and that's where I feel like our focus has been with the team now is that how do we how do we compete in all of these women's events how do we make time for it

[00:10:59] how do we put it on our schedule and figure it out to why we started the Charleston J105 women's event because we wanted to be involved in it we have our J105 fleet and Charleston is awesome it's not as big as Annapolis but it's great

[00:11:16] We have to like eight boats seven or eight boats now which are Charleston is great Ann you look at the J105 fleet in Charleston and there's a lot of women in it our boat is mostly women and a lot of the other boats

[00:11:31] have a lot of women so why not why not take something that's working and expand on it and so that's kind of where we are at this point You have women's regatta the week after Charleston race week right? Yup, the Saturday after Charleston race week

[00:11:47] And you were telling me earlier that the boat down for Charleston race week and leaves it to make it available for women's regatta the dockage is free So we have room at Charleston Yacht Club right now for at least four J105s

[00:12:03] and if we have more interest in that we've got definitely some contacts that are willing to help us out so either come to Charleston race week and bring a women's team and stay for the regatta the next weekend or bring a women's team the next weekend

[00:12:19] but we've got lots of or bring a partial women's team we've got a lot of girls riding the bench here waiting to get on team Great message for those who are listening my friends at the J105 Fleet inapolis and elsewhere there's something like a great opportunity

[00:12:35] We can start name dropping I'll be loud I expect to see you But racing in Charleston in April is awesome You're not breaking ice and you're not freezing your butt off most of the time and if you are it's because it's breeze on and it's fun racing

[00:12:55] So the benefit of race week in the J105s now is they're inside and it's great racing So this is quite a highly organized thing that you're doing here you're essentially traveling sometimes taking boats or are you nearly always taking somebody else's boat

[00:13:15] So you're looking to borrow boats 99% of our events are either chartering a boat or we're going to events where boats are provided and that's that latter part that boats provided part is also a key and critical part of what I think is part of the special sauce

[00:13:37] of what makes a great women's championship or women's robata is providing boats very few women own their own boats So you take that factor and multiply that by the women that are in a certain class and multiply or divide that

[00:13:53] by the women who are willing to travel those boats and you get to a pretty slim number So pretty important for us as a sailing community to continue to consider how can we make boats available for women's events so we're chartering or we're using fleet boats

[00:14:13] as part of the event What's the key to building a successful campaign? I'll take a crack first I think for a long term campaign reputation is really important I think the most important thing is people and the only way to get great

[00:14:37] people is to have a good reputation in the sailing community You don't want people to not want to sail with you or have reservations about that So you know, people have a good attitude, treat your team well Make sure you're organized, have good equipment You know

[00:14:57] Be respectful of the boats that you're borrowing I think from my perspective Sarah's done an amazing job of keeping the balls rolling when it comes to organizing events and going places She said to me I want you to come with us to Newport for this VX1 event

[00:15:19] I was like, A, check schedule B, check with husband and kid Once those are two done she goes, don't worry about anything I'll do all the leg work If you just can come and get the rental car She took care of a lot of the leg work

[00:15:35] because we all have very busy jobs and labs But she knew if I had to do any more work than just showing up and getting the rental car that it was going to make it even harder for me to go

[00:15:47] You kind of have a team that balances each other out It's just like any boat You have somebody that's the snack-tition, somebody that organizes the t-shirts somebody that organizes the cooler Somebody that ultimately pays for the registration fee Make sure that everyone's on the scratch list

[00:16:03] Somebody that's checking life jackets It's all a team thing If you show up and do your part then you're always going to be part of that team We've got a really good group of girls that we can draw from slap a pirate princess shirt on

[00:16:21] I didn't go to the Naples event with them because I had just been in Newport But I know that they sent a great team up there They're going to act like a bunch of bitches and they're going to represent the team and our area well

[00:16:37] And that's what you want You want people to want the pirate princess team to show back up and A, have a good time and be great competition and increase the number of boats on the line Yeah, I think It's about it's about the team and the team members

[00:16:57] and playing to everybody's strengths You know, I think we're all in different similar stages of life but different stages of life and we all have to know okay, well this we're going to I'm going to own more things

[00:17:13] because I know somebody else is really stressed out at work or I know that this person really limited on their time off and so we're going to make it as easy and quick for them to get in and out and you know sometimes sometimes it's one person

[00:17:27] something than somebody else but just having one person and Sarah has been this person I feel like especially since we've had kids and having toddlers is a crazy world but Sarah's been so great at just saying like hey, I got this

[00:17:41] like I need you to show up and I need you to do these things and we do the things that we need to do and we show up and it's amazing and it's so nice to get away and go racing and be back into like our old selves

[00:17:55] and I will say this to you like I came into the pirate princess team a little bit later I think the first event I did was the Sarah event which you won five years ago but we won it but I felt so privileged to be asked to come

[00:18:13] hey, will you drive our team this weekend and I'm like yeah can't make any guarantees but let's go let's do it like we went out what practice one afternoon maybe or maybe we went out 30 minutes beforehand got where everybody's butt needed to go and feet needed to be

[00:18:29] and we went out there and we won our event it was awesome but you know like to want to be on a team like that is kind of the foundation of what they've built with this team for so long right like it's a privilege

[00:18:45] so what have you learned about yourselves that have made you better sailors recently I have really let go of driving in the past few years I knew that I didn't love driving at the helm I mean I also hate driving a car but I knew what you meant

[00:19:09] but it took me a long time in my sailing career to recognize that I don't like it that much and by extension not that great at it and just stopping forcing myself to do it you can be a leader of a team without having the tiller

[00:19:31] in your hand or without having the wheel in your hand and I like allowed myself to learn that and it's really changed my like perspective and love for the sport because driving stresses the heck out of me so the flip for me is

[00:19:47] I really had to embrace driving because this one has put me on the tiller so many times and I'm like it's been a long time because I was a crew I was always crew on a 420 I was spinnaker on all the boats I was bow on a mogus 24

[00:20:05] you know I was a little person so they always threw me forward so then she's like can you drive for us sure I had to embrace being at the back of the boat and now I love it we call it fantasy land on RJ 105 and you know

[00:20:27] to kind of go back to what Katie was saying about being a pregnant woman in this sport you're not on the bow any boat after a certain point in time and so being in the stern on the tiller or on the wheel allows you to sail up until

[00:20:41] the teams like no we don't feel like delivering a baby on board so for me like embracing being a skipper has been a little bit challenging because I love being in the middle of the boat I like being able to see everything

[00:20:57] I feel like I can call tactics better that way because when I'm driving I'm just focusing on making the boat go as fast as I can trusting my teammates and crew members and telling me like hey we got to go left I really like it on the right

[00:21:13] no you got to go left that's where we all kind of gel together but yeah I think you like letting go of driving I had to embrace it Sarah what did you find it frustrating I listened to I really resonated with actually something you said

[00:21:29] on one of your previous episodes where you were talking about what is the geometry of sailing and how as you're getting into the sport struggling with it maybe is a strong term no no and I was like you know what

[00:21:47] maybe that's my problem with driving all of these years but it feels like such a huge responsibility to me and I don't know why I can put anyone of all of these incredible women I sail with behind the helm and feel like no pressure

[00:22:07] we could come in dead last and I would be completely not upset with my driver but if I'm driving and we don't perform well I just can't handle it even when we were in Newport I got frustrated a couple of times and you're like nope that's okay

[00:22:27] we're next race you feel a ton of responsibility as a skipper because you want to do well and you want your team that's working so hard and trust that you can get them to the top and it is and then

[00:22:41] there's the nerves and stuff that come with starting finding the hole picking the right side pin start the fleet whatever it may be but if you've got a great crew on board then it makes it a little bit easier Jason Curry of Quantum Sales

[00:23:01] I was talking to him on the podcast and he was saying on the best bet he's on the driver it's only at the end the driver says what happened, how do we do? because they'd be focusing on telltales, giving the boat speed up to target and so on

[00:23:19] okay that's really interesting anybody else so what about the KT's what have you learned about yourself that made you a better sailor I think I was very much into self-reflect I sailed I drove at Charleston Race Week in 2021 and I was very newly pregnant the team

[00:23:43] didn't know our tactician knew but the team didn't know but most of them figured it out by the end of the regatta that you were pregnant yes, that I was pregnant but I really figured out that I need to I need to take deeper breaths when I'm driving

[00:24:01] you look down on your wife and you're like this is not fun just looking outside of me I am a big proponent whether it's good or bad and when I'm doing high end racing I'm not drinking but when I'm driving I just need

[00:24:19] a little bit of a pre-race beer just to calm me down and the running joke is that in my opinion we did well at that race week but not as well as I hoped and the joke was that I didn't get to have my pre-race beers beer

[00:24:37] but it's just a matter of figuring out what it takes to get you comfortable in the position and it's usually Katie or I or one of our other crew members driving so we get to trade off and we get to learn from each other

[00:24:55] and we see how somebody else does it and it's been really fun to challenge myself and for me it's a matter of making sure that my head is in the boat enough but not too much because I've had a lot of experience in a lot of different positions

[00:25:13] that sometimes as a driver I get too focused on somebody not focusing on their position enough but then I have to say wait because I'm not focusing on my position enough that's so true that's something that I'm working on it's not something that's been resolved but

[00:25:33] I think I have the biggest challenge when I'm driving with that scenario when I'm in my position as a spin trimmer or as a pit or a jib trimmer main trimmer mostly I'm able to focus on myself a little bit better so I just know

[00:25:51] that when I'm driving I need to focus on the boat and less on the crew because we have great crew that know what they're doing what was one event that I drove and you were we decided that I was better at wind driving

[00:26:05] you were better at wind driving we just need to figure out how to make it cohesive and we look so similar on the water that we can just flip-flop well yeah I mean last year I was driving you were trimming main and at one point there was just

[00:26:23] a cluster on the bow and you went up and tried to fix it and then at one point it was like Katie can you take the wheel and all go fix it it was unfortunately a cluster that cost us a point and

[00:26:37] we got second we were tied for first and ended up second because of it but we learned from it and next year we are going to make up cluster free yes it is it is one of the hardest things the driver is

[00:26:49] and also driver and an owner as well where you know something is going wrong but you also know there's enough people around that who are much more confident they don't need me to shout anything go up there and you've got to have that sort of tunnel

[00:27:01] vision or just like ignore that just the mocks coming up ready for that boats to the left, boats to the right what are you doing but it's very very hard it's almost inhumanly impossible to maintain that focus and that was the coolest thing about our event

[00:27:19] last year is we only had five J105s but 35 women we had seven women on each boat and the racing was really tight I mean it was everybody was you know there were no horizon jobs there was almost like the one mistake you make right now

[00:27:37] that's the position that he loses if you make one mistake in a race and that's like it's impossible to do I mean you're talking about super clean racing from everyone on borrowed boats with not a normal crew the women's regatta in Naples apart from being very well attended

[00:27:57] at 15 boats was Molly was saying at our fleet meeting yesterday how much national coverage it got and how much comment there was about how tight and competitive their racing was spectacular and as far as visibility and people wanting to be involved we were able

[00:28:17] through one of the local distributors last year to get Mt. Gay as a sponsor and this year Mt. Gay corporate is a full sponsor of the Charles Neal Club J105 event so we're getting past we're gonna have a great party but they're fully committed

[00:28:35] to supporting women sailing which is awesome would you say exclusively with all women or in all female regattas if you had the option yeah really? I think so because the camaraderie that comes with these events and you know the shore side support is super important too

[00:28:57] and so for us to all be able to go as women to a weekend event means that someone has to be home taking care of home and it's easier like Katie and Paul both sail so it's easier to go to an all women's

[00:29:13] event because your husband can stay home with the kids and your husband can stay home with the dogs whatever it may be but I just feel like and I was kind of thinking about this when we all go out for girls night how relaxed we all are

[00:29:29] how open we all are how much fun we all have just the girls I think that's probably why there are all these different girl groups that have girls night right you get to go out and just be what you were before all the other responsibilities of life

[00:29:47] and it's in my experience all the different women events that I've done and all the co-ed events I've done the women events always stand out to me as the most fun and I can't really put a finger on why it seems like we're all there

[00:30:05] for the same reasons we all want to compete and do well but we all want to also create community and relationships that will go on for lifetimes and you know and you get the great opportunity of raising a daughter that will hopefully have all of these same opportunities

[00:30:23] and I get to raise a little boy that's going to be a great short side crew one day too and set courses and do all the things that help support the one in the future but that's me I love men and I love sailing

[00:30:41] you get some too but I just feel like the events are different you're right I was going to say hard no but if I think about reflect back on my sailing career as an adult and what are the most fun and memorable verbatis for me they have been

[00:31:03] the women's events you know that said I learned an incredible amount from the men that I sail with and it just I've learned year over year from just incredibly talented guys that I get to be in orbit with and I'm like thankful for that so I do wonder

[00:31:27] if I would be missing that but at the same time I mean you're right those have been my best memories of sailing I would agree I think a balance of the women's events and the co-ed events Sarah and I have raced down in the Caribbean with our husbands

[00:31:45] on the boat as well and it's great I love sailing with my husband Katie and I learned at QS Race Week from the J70 that I can't sit next to my husband when we're racing that doesn't work they're a little too close but you know

[00:32:03] we sail on a Benito 477 we've sailed Kinecan three times and it's a great boat and we have a lot of a lot of good times down there we're spaced out very well and those are really fun for goddess too but I will say

[00:32:23] I think it's a great way to get down last year when my daughter was one brought the grandparents along to babysit and that regatta just it hit differently you know it's a lot harder to go to an epic regatta like that and then have to come

[00:32:41] home and be mom and dad at the end of the day so you know I think there's a balance in between it of local regattas and travel regattas and travel regattas where hopefully the grandparents stay home with the kids I think these are events too

[00:32:59] like we plan for them right so it's our time to go do what we love to do and you know kind of get back to putting our feet in the water and letting loose and having a good time and they're just different

[00:33:19] so if you ask any other female teams they'll probably say the same thing so let's take a break and then when we come back I want to hear about the challenges of stepping on to a mix boat perhaps as a female for the first time

[00:33:35] what that feels like and then let's also talk about how to grow the sport for women because you talked about the large numbers of women college sailors how to keep them in the sport how to grow the sport for them so we'll be back in a sec

[00:33:51] so one thing we were talking about earlier was what it feels like and the experience of stepping on to a mix team for the first time we talked about sailing in all female crews but I think it really depends on the level of sailing expertise

[00:34:19] of the men on board and I don't want this to come across too sharp but I will say that in my experience stepping on to a mixed crew that has primarily men who came up sailing in college have spent a lot of time on design racing are professionals

[00:34:41] for the most part love sailing with those guys have never had an issue you know as a female you get pretty you know quickly recognized if you know what you're doing then you're part of the team and there's no issues and everybody's chill I actually find that

[00:35:05] you know the bigger challenge is sailing with men who are maybe on a learning curve still and potentially overconfident about their own skills or maybe don't really have a good perspective or full perspective or a good world view on sailing those can be

[00:35:33] a little bit of a tougher situation only in that they don't know they haven't been in that college sailing experience that so many of us shared where we really are sailing as equals and if somebody has an experience that and you walk on board

[00:35:53] as a woman it can be you can have a little bit of a hurdle to get through I feel like whenever I step on a boat if I've never sailed with the team before I kind of hang back if I'm told to be primary

[00:36:11] do it to the best of my abilities and then they'll see hopefully I know what I'm doing and then you kind of weave your way into the team I have a heart issue with getting on a boat either being yelled at immediately or demanded to do it differently

[00:36:31] than the way that I've known how to do it everyone has their own way of doing things but you're going to tell me to do it differently it's the wrong way of doing it so to me safety is a big deal

[00:36:43] if I don't trust the guy that's driving or whoever that's driving then I'm not getting on the boat and I won't do it again maybe when I was younger I would get on the boat and really kind of make my mark known

[00:36:55] but now I kind of get on and see how the team especially if I'm new to this team see kind of how they gel who really stands out as alpha kind of see where I slide into things and you know I'll make suggestions here and there

[00:37:11] if they're taking great, if they're not then they'll listen next time I would agree I mean I definitely tend to hang back when my husband was in the Navy we lived in Kittery, Maine which surprisingly has an awesome J24 fleet and you know

[00:37:31] hopped on a few boats there and immediately kind of got picked up and I'm very humble and I kind of don't like to give a lot of information right away and want to see how the team does and say you know I will throw things

[00:37:47] in there like hey have you tried it this way or have you ever I don't know if this would work perfectly but you know I've been on a boat where we did it this way versus telling people what to do forming it as a question and

[00:38:01] let's all learn from it and go from it and it's really fun that way I think building a relationship asking a question empowers people versus telling them what to do which belittles them be kind, be humble and embrace the talent that you have on board right?

[00:38:23] Yeah so it's really about being willing to gel with a team if you want to stick it out and I agree with Katie if somebody starts yelling or if there's dangerous situations I'm never getting back on that boat I think fun is the most important

[00:38:45] winning is kind of right behind it but safety is there too and if you're not having fun and you're not being safe then I don't really want to be a part of it Mike Beasley who was on a previous CellFaster podcast

[00:39:01] he talked about, he's been on top boats with some of the top New Zealand sailors and he talked about their emphasis was exactly on that, on having fun if you're a happy boat and people having fun that's going to help you win which I was

[00:39:19] quite surprised to hear because you imagine the top boats is deadly serious there's a lot of shouting there but absolutely not the case at all well the sailing is a head game right? Yeah not even just for the driver but 100% for the driver if you break your brain

[00:39:39] you're game over as a driver I can't do it 100% if you can get Katie laughing on the sail or the tiller she's going to do better in a pre race beer whatever I want to talk about that because obviously you found a winning formula right of

[00:40:01] being able to relax I know you said that it's somewhat in jest you did beer before the race but I get that now we're talking about you Katie laughing on the wheel what's that about? I think back to the co-ed Sarah event where we protect the fleet and

[00:40:25] conditions were not great but we ported the fleet and we were so far ahead that it was laughable and we giggled the entire time and then we go the whole race and then we go around the last louis mark and I just dropped the tiller

[00:40:43] and ran forward to untangle something and she's on the floor rolling around the back of the chai 22 like what is happening back here this is championship Atlantic championship and nobody's holding the tiller and yet we still won that race bus so far

[00:40:59] but we were having so much fun same thing with the Sarah event that was all women we just had such a good time we giggled about it there are moments where I'm like nobody talk, I need to make the boat go fast as soon as I look up

[00:41:15] we're doing better again or whatever, somebody will say one liner and the boat erupts and laughter Katie Weller I'm not going to do it one time and you know I'm like I'm dying laughing but we're schlepping her back in there have been lots more

[00:41:35] but I think if you're not having any fun what's the point so if you've won the race but lost the respect of your teammates then you haven't won at all and I just think if we're out here to have a good time listen, we're not getting sponsorship

[00:41:51] and we're not getting any benefits on I'm told that we're into champagne conditions these days this is for us a lifetime sport that we want to go out and enjoy the people that we're with and the places that we are and you know

[00:42:09] at the end of the day you get off the water and you don't want to see anybody you sailed with that day that's not a good day it's just not so I think it's so important to have fun celebrate each other and you know what

[00:42:25] if we lose every race and I've laughed so hard that my cheeks and my stomach hurt that's what it's about hey Sarah one thing you talked about that was really important to you was the mission behind pirate princess racing do you want to talk about that

[00:42:41] the driving vision behind pirate princess racing is to keep top level performance sailing as they mature past college into career life into family life and beyond was that because you talked earlier about there's a ton of women in college and their participation sounds like it falls off

[00:43:03] was that a spur to why you set this up that's certainly what it feels like looking around you see a ton of girls and opties and you see a ton of girls and lasers we see a ton of women in college sailing and

[00:43:19] then you look around yourself on a Wednesday night or out on whatever kill boat you're racing and where are they what happened I think regularly about how many all American women sailors are not sailing yeah where are they come back I think well this probably

[00:43:43] happened to me too I didn't really sail all through college and then I would dabble in it here and there and then when I moved here shortly after went into career mode and in the back of my mind I'm thinking I'll get on the water whenever I can

[00:44:01] but sailing is a lifetime sport it's not like 10-0s or you know golf well golf is kind of a lifetime sport too and you can't go back to so I think that there is this like pause in women between the ages of I don't know 25 to 35 maybe

[00:44:23] where they've stopped and they've gone into careers and family life and whatever it may be and they take on all these different responsibilities and then they get back into it so to keep them keep the momentum going after college like I don't really know or not sure

[00:44:43] that I have an answer as to how to keep them competitive I think providing the opportunities providing women's regattas for people to specifically say hey I don't get that much time off in this new job this new career that I'm building or as a new mom

[00:45:03] and I'm gonna dedicate you know a weekend or two weekends to the year to this women's sailing event that I'm gonna call a friend that I haven't sailed with in a long time that I love sailing with and say hey having to treat you on the water

[00:45:17] in a while I know there's a lot going on in your life but come sailing with us this weekend yeah I mean it's come compete if the opportunities need to be there for sure and you know I think grass roots stuff is easy too

[00:45:33] these people back out there on the water they're just planning to get and what she's done with getting a whole spreadsheet of all of these different women's events and saying hey let's Charleston's great sailing and there's a ton of women here and a ton of great women sailors

[00:45:51] why don't we just try and make sure that there's women from Charleston at all of these women's events let's all apply, let's all try and if we've got a lot of Charleston women that's great but let's make sure and getting the people that aren't out as much

[00:46:07] back into sailing so my advice for somebody that's trying to get back into it that has a career that has a busy life that maybe juggling family is to dedicate time just like you dedicate time for anything else I was

[00:46:21] literally just thinking that I need to look at the calendar go ahead and put the dates for the events that we want to do so that I know hey I need this much time off of work surrounding this event to get there successfully and I think

[00:46:37] if you can just dedicate obviously it can't be every day but if you dedicate a day a month or a weekend a month and in the summertime when it's more feasible to be on the water you dedicate maybe two weekends

[00:46:53] a month to kind of get back in it and the other flipside that we haven't even really talked about is how many women volunteer as sure-sed support and volunteer to be race committee and if you're unsure about getting back in on a racing boat right away

[00:47:11] dedicate some time to race committee be a scorekeeper go get on a mark set boat and reteach your brain how to be on the water for several hours again because there's so many opportunities we are always begging for volunteers to go run these events

[00:47:31] and there are often times a lot of women on race committee too I think another big thing that you and I have struggled with is just how do you carve out that time and the biggest thing is you need the support whether it's from your spouse

[00:47:49] or your friends or your family or whatever it is and kind of one of the things that we've been leaned on is that we have the ability luckily our kids are very close at age and so we can stick them together with a nanny or

[00:48:05] there's opportunities for us and the ability to say hey I'm going to hang back this week why don't I watch the kids and you go it doesn't have to be the spouse, it doesn't have to be the grandparents and you don't have to pay somebody to do it

[00:48:23] we're really lucky that we've got some great sailing friends that now have kids that are old enough to watch our kids and that's been a great asset so it's just a matter of kind of navigating that time frame until you can bring the kids along on RJ105

[00:48:41] this is for the summer series not for race week, not for big racing and not for big breeze days but Claire started sailing with us when she was a few weeks before she was 5, it was like 2 or 3 weeks before she was 5

[00:48:55] she's now sailed with us for the past 3 summers and she went from us having to carry her across the boat fetching beers and now she squirms and it's great it's nice to not have to go down below on a J105

[00:49:11] but it's a million degrees out in the summer should open some too man she's really good at the beer game on this Wednesday night races outside of just the sharing of responsibilities which as a mom I watch you guys handle so gracefully and I am always impressed

[00:49:33] by our wider sailing community like step up and help out with sharing the load to get you guys out in the water but outside of that I would tell women don't sell yourself short physically I think a lot of women between the age of 30 and 40 in general are

[00:49:57] in better physical condition than their male counterparts and just showing up sober not hungover and able to move your body in a athletic manner is actually going to get you pretty far yeah well I think we've talked about it a lot before that

[00:50:23] we may not be as strong as a male that's our same size or our same weight or whatever it is but women have this innate ability to use our bodies differently you know I trim main on a J105 I'm not a big buff guy I theoretically should be

[00:50:45] but I use my entire body weight to pull that main in I'm not just using my arms and there's different ways about doing it you know if it's breeze on and I need to you know use the winch and winch handle I'm going to do it

[00:51:01] I'm not going to be somebody that's afraid to change the way that I do something to make it work I'm going to figure it out I'm not an aren't really adaptable too right and we endure a lot of things let's be honest I'm interested in your opinion

[00:51:19] on what you think the sailing organizations sailing clubs yacht clubs and so on need to do to promote women in the sport I think it's about access to boats really I've done a lot of thinking about this I think that if we can get more

[00:51:39] clubs with club boats you know I'm thinking about my experience at New York yacht club my recent experience at the yacht club clubs that have nice fleets of club boats that's very that makes it very accessible for women to go step aboard get behind

[00:51:57] the helm do any position on that boat and not feel like they have to conform or be in a certain spot on the boat because that's somebody else some other guy's spot and he's always been doing that so I think it has

[00:52:13] to do with access to boats and typically that means like you know yacht clubs having a club fleet and I think what partners with access to boats is being able to be a member at these clubs that have fleets of boats that they can access right yep

[00:52:33] that's right membership membership and whether or not it's a full membership or if it's just access to the fleets however it needs to be done but it's an intimidating sport to get into when it's largely dominated by yacht clubs that don't accept women as members

[00:52:57] yacht clubs that don't accept women as members there are two out of four in Charleston you're within the stone's throw wow this is 2024 yeah the candle worms hasn't opened everybody knows now yeah it's an interesting dynamic and Sarah and I have had a lot of conversations

[00:53:21] about that you know hosting women's events she's been running the Sarah women's championships and you know to me I belong to Charleston yacht club and I'm a member at Charleston yacht club because I can be a member at Charleston yacht club

[00:53:37] and you know what I don't want to sail for a club that doesn't want me as a member right and it's an interesting it's an interesting dynamic especially interesting just being in the south coming from California it was completely eye-opening and it's a different world out here

[00:53:59] but we are really lucky to have some clubs that really support us and I think our sailing organization really support this absolutely it is about access you know I mean and if we're trying to breed great sailors not everybody's gonna be the best sailor so

[00:54:17] you've got to get a lot of people in the pool to figure out you know who's gonna be your Olympian and that's planes a lot of what's going on here and to push on that a little bit further it's a white male dominated sport precisely and huge

[00:54:37] sections of society that could be world class sailors who knows they're out there playing golf or playing tennis or who knows what sports they're doing but it's too hard to get into sailing it's confusing to get into sailing why would you unless you want to sail

[00:54:57] hang out with a bunch of white middle aged white guys who would want to do that let's go back to the best event who would want to do that and it goes back and it goes back to the reason why we like doing these events

[00:55:11] where we travel and we're on borrowed boats to me I'm competing not about somebody that knows all the tweaks of a boat I'm competing against another sailor on a boat that's not ours that we don't know how to perfectly tune and it goes back to that college sailing

[00:55:29] where you just get on the boat and you go sailing and you sail with what you're dealt with you know you're sailing with these borrowed sails that may or may not be the best but it's about the teamwork and the tactics and the ability of the team

[00:55:47] and not the ability of the team to know how tweaky their boat is or how deep your pockets are we won an event without a baton yeah we won an event without a baton in our main sail on a borrowed boat and

[00:56:03] we look like drawn rats at the end of the day but we had a damn good time it's true sailing not and competing not and how deep your pockets are as you said that's the biggest barrier to entry for sailing and barrier to success

[00:56:23] is you know I don't have every single weekend anymore to dedicate to sailing and so I don't have every single weekend to go out and track every tune every you know change that I make on a boat I just want to go sailing

[00:56:39] and I want to go sailing and I want to compete and I want to be competitive and have a good time what are your goals for at Princess Racing this year? 2023 was a big year of trying new events so Power Princess Racing

[00:56:55] did a match race qualifier this year we've never done match racing before that was a humbling educational experience for us so we we did a lot of new things you know tried a lot of new regattas kind of like stirred a lot of pots

[00:57:11] started a little started a lot of little fires and try to do more events that we can get maybe one or two boats versus just one yeah that'd be cool send Power Princess one, Power Princess two look out yeah I mean I think we have plenty of girls

[00:57:33] that are Pirate Princesses out there that you know the VX1 event we easily could put two boats together I really think we probably could maybe even three especially if we start pulling people off of retirement benches well sound like you have a fantastic year ahead of you 2024

[00:57:53] good luck thank you so much for spending time with me Katie, Katie and Sarah really super learning about Pirate Princess Racing and just also some great insights into being women sailors so thanks very much for your time and hospitality thank you this was awesome